Android Lollipop is a major facelift since Android 4.0
ice-cream sandwich. It’s been years since Android staying on 4.x version with
Android 4.0-4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich(2011), Android 4.1-4.3.1 Jelly bean (2012)
and finally 4.4-4.4.4 Kit Kat(2013).
October 2011 Ice Cream Sandwich was released; the milestone
Google made to the success of the most popular mobile platform Android. Until
Ice cream sandwich Android was just another mobile platform in the mobile
market dominated by Nokia’s Closed Source Operating System, Symbian. Even if Google tried to more features to
Android platform with Gingerbread at 2010, the system was couldn’t utilize the
precious hardware and had a lagging interface. But unlike Symbian OS, Android
was growing very rapidly with tons of new feature with each updates.
Android
Ice cream Sandwich could bring more visual appeal and better performance than
its predecessor but the platform was not as smooth to work on. Thus Google
started working on a project called Project Butter to put a milestone on the
update run. With Project Butter the performance bumped up and delivered a
buttery smooth UI with features like touch anticipation, triple buffering,
extended vsync timing and a fixed frame rate of 60fps. From this point the
platform grew exponentially, even more than that.
September 3 2013 Google
announced One Billion activated devices are now using Android OS worldwide.
Google unveiled Android 5.0 Lollipop on June 25 2014 during
the Google I/O. Android Lollipop is the most anticipate Android release since
Android. Lollipop brings vast UI change from top to bottom with the
introduction of Google’s new design language Material design. The design
philosophy is also extended to all other Google products like Chrome OS and
Web. Nexus 6, Nexus 9 and Nexus player will be the devices receiving Android
Lollipop out of the box. Smart watches like Moto 360, LG G watch R and Sony smart watch 3 runs Lollipop based Android Wear OS.
"What if there is an intelligent material, simple as paper but can transform and change shape with response to touch." - Matias Duarte VP of Design for Android
Android Lollipop is more colorful, multilayered and even
every objects on screen have elevation casting real time shadows.
UI changes
First thing you will notice when you have a hands on an
Android Lollipop device is the lock screen. The lock screen is updated totally
with new small cards notification arranged one below/above another and at the
top we have time with date, battery status, setting button and an round my
profile icon. Now you can read messages, calls or mail and reply right from the
lock screen, you don’t need to unlock your phone and go to the app to do the
same. If you have lot of notification the most relevant notification to the
user is showed up, rest are compressed for later viewing.
User can enable
priority mode so that only the most important data are shown on the lock screen
and even set priority with time if you don’t want anyone else than high
priority people to wake you up from a deep sleep. Swipe down the notification
will give an expanded view all the notification and one more swipe open up the
quick setting menu which is very handy feature. Quick setting contains toggle
button for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Airplane mode, Location, cast screen and the most
requested Auto rotate. Google also added manual brightness adjustment from the
lock screen or anywhere else.
The most noticeable UI change once you unlock the device are
the status bar and navigation bar. Navigation buttons on the navigation bar are
changed to standard triangle as back button, circle as home button and square
for multitasking button. Navigation bar can be either transparent or black in
color. Status bar resemble the Kit Kat version except that the status bar
changes it color according to the color of the app opened as in PA ROM. An
updated Lollipop version of keyboard also comes along.
Notification
Unlike other version once the notification bar is pulled
down we get a list of notification without the notification tray taking out the
rest of the space. Thus when you don’t have any notification, pulling down the
notification bar results most of the screen to be still visible. The new heads
up notification is another great feature in the notification department. Small notification
card pop up on the top of the screen for important notifications which can be
engaged or disengaged right from the app you are working without interrupting
it.
Multitasking
Multitasking in
Android Lollipop is enhanced with a document centric view meaning the one app
can have more than one card in the multitasking window. This refreshed feature
may or may not work because, the number of cards in the multitasking window may
increase significantly for a power multitasking user but for user who works on
few app will be benefited. These cards
are now arranged in 3D with smooth rolodex-style animation.
Do Not Disturb is another feature in Lollipop from iOS which
can mute the notifications for a fixed time, in addition Android also added the
ability to turn on Do Not Disturb mode for instantly using the volume buttons.
"We are not huddling you through space at high speed we are not puncturing your hand with visible impossible surfaces. We are trying to limit animation to like of a depth that is appropriate that you would hold in your hand." - Matias Duarte VP of Design for Android
Material Design
Android Lollipop has tons of
little things that make the OS big. Lollipop has small animations like a ripple
effect when you touch a button or auto rotate toggle button, which are sweet
and not over exaggerating. All through the platform we could see vivid new
colors, improved typography and bold responsive UI giving a consistent look and
feel. In Lollipop each object are designed in such a way that it should
response to touch in a graceful way with natural small motion. Objects can have
an elevation for the surface which is made visually pleasing with the help of
real time lighting and shadows.
Ok Google
Google now is one of the most
popular features introduced since Jellybean which enable user to give query for
a Google search by voice. Google now not
only give a Google search result but also shows up a information card related
to the query. When a question like “Who is the president of United States of
America” as asked to Google now by tapping the mic icon of Google now or by the
hot word “Ok Google” . It shows a Google search result along with a information
card about Barack Obama containing essential details. With Lollipop Google now
can be activated even when your device screen is off using the hot word “Ok
Google”.
Security
Lollipop also made great
improvement in security of Android users too. Android Lollipop comes with
automatic encryption by default. In early version of android the user had an
option to encrypt there phone manually but in Lollipop it’s an out of the box
settings thus protect data in lost or stolen devices. SELinux is enforced in
all apps giving better protection against vulnerabilities and malware.
Android Smart Lock is another
stunning feature in Lollipop, enabling security by paring with most trusted
wearable like smart watch or your car. The smart phones searches for trusted
devices around it and if it could find one like a smart watch it don’t stop you
to enter your security pin number or pattern instead it gives the user the
freedom to just unlock the device with simple swipe to unlock feature.
Device sharing
Device sharing is a feature
promoted by Google since Android 4.3 which allows multiple user account in a
single device. You forgot to take you phone and you need a number in your phone
which you don’t remember, with Lollipop you can access your mobile regardless
of where you are via another Lollipop running device. You can also enable guest
user in your device allow other to miss with your phone, not with your data.
You can set what should a guest see in your device and what shouldn’t.
Connectivity
More efficient Bluetooth low
energy devices like smart watches consuming less power. Better network handoff
means, you are video chatting with friends while you are moving out of your
house or out of your home Wi-Fi range then a seamlessly handover to cellular
network is done without interrupting your video chat.
Performance
Android lollipop introduces a new
Android run time ART, improving application performance and responsiveness.
Google promises up to 4x performance increase in most of the application and
can handle complex graphically rich app efficiently. More over ART enable
running 64bit applications with the help of MIPS based cores.
Camera
With Lollipop’s raw image format
support like YUV and Bayer RAW, photography with smart phone is taken to next
level. In previous versions of android the captures image are compresses to
minimize the file size and post processing of the image. While compression the
image losses tons of details which can be used to enhanced the image with third
party applications. Raw image format allow the user to retain its original
details of a captured image for further image optimization. Hands on capture
setting for the sensor, lens and flash per frame right on the camera app.
Google delivers high end video technology like UHD 4K 10 bit video playback
with support of HEVC main profile and better video decoding with less power
consumption.
Battery
Google comes with a new project
called Project Volta which is all about power conception. They have also
included a battery historian to accurately measure the power consumption which
developers can make use of to build energy efficient apps. Lollipop comes with
an inbuilt power saving mode which can extend the battery life up to 90mins
more. Power saving mode downs down the display brightness and refreshing rate.
The estimated time left to full charge will be displayed and the estimated time
left for your device could be found in battery settings.
[NOTE] Devices receiving Android Lollipop update soon: click here
Google’s Material design updated apps:
Google’s Material design updated apps:
| Gmail 5.0 | click here to download |
| Calender 5.0 | click here to download |
| YouTube 5.16.4 | click here to download |
| Google Play Store 5.0.38 | click here to download |
| Google Drive 2.1.424 | click here to download |
| Google Play Books 3.2.58 | click here to download |
| Google Play Newsstand 3.3.1 | click here to download |
| Hangouts Dialer 0.1 | click here to download |